Babies Born April 1st - 15th 2008 #1

[MagicSeahorse]

Hi K.A.L., Welcome to the thread.
Hey Shoegal, how did the wedding go? Did you have a chance to show Baxter the ocean? if so,How did he take it? Taking hunter to WA for a few days in a weeks time for a family do, cant wait to take him to the beach.

We had intended to be fully cloth nappies too, but Hunter was so small when he was born, that he had to go into disposables, then when he was big enough, we had gotten used to the convenience. Mind you even though we feel very guilty about using disposables, the amount of detergents, bleaches and phosphates that go down the drains with cloth kind of balances it out. Plus it has been proven that there is only a tiny part of the nappy that isnt biodegadable, and in fact, worms LOVE to eat most of the nappy. So my guilt is usaged.
Well thats my 2 cents worth.
(At least I was able to breast feed even if I didn't get my natural, painkiller free, birth, and couldnt go all organic. Babies never go to plan. Babies don't understand "plan". Just like they don't understand "stuck in traffic" when they are hungry, and your driving.)

Congrats on the teeth! (Not looking forward to that!)

[Beatrix]

LL- each to their own, but do you know that the very first disposible made and used has still not broken down?

but yeah i very much dounbt a baby as little as your bub woud have fit into any type of cloth!!!


FARK... Annika has just wandered out of her bedroom

[MagicSeahorse]

Thank heavens they don't make the like that any more, or I really would be beating myself up. Not every thing was made better in the "olden days". But life is full of compromise.

Tonight we tried stewed apple. Not really sure about it. things certainly got messy, when usually he tries not to let anything escape. Loves his grub. He has no problems with the rice cerial, and even opens his mouth for it. I think your own reaction has a lot to do with wether he likes some thing or not. Every time Hunter has tried some thing new, he has a mouth full, gets this "OMG what the F it this??!!" look on his face, like he's going to spit it out, then looks at me. I give him a big smile and do nummy-nummy noises,(try to look enthusiastic) and he gives me a big smile and then is quite happy to eat it.
How does everyone else get on, getting bubbs to try new foods?

[BabyWrangler]

Hi LL
My little fella has been great with new foods.
He LOVED carrot when when tried that, and now chews on raw carrot sticks (but only at the moment cause he hasn't bitten chunks off..when that happens he'll stop having them til he has chewing totally mastered!).
He loves his rice cereal, and we are heading to weetbix probably next week and also starting to introduce lunch...may still be vegies at this stage, maybe fruit.

So far he's having:
Potato
Sweet potato
Broccoli
Zucchini
Carrot
Rice
Rice Cereal

We'll start on some toast soon too, and also going to start giving him some meat to chew on.

[Fire]

Lisy are you using the groovy biodegradeable nappies? I like them, only one piece isn't biodegradeable. Although, it isn't cloth nappies, which I dreamed of using but only used for three months (sigh), it is a compromise. They still take way too long to break down, and aren't "natural", but hey, I gotta do what I gotta do - I had one HELL of a first six months with my son, it's amazing I got a nappy on him at all most days!

Regarding food, we are on the allergy schedule, only breast milk until at least 7 months and then one new food every three days. Not how I wanted it to go (much like everything since I got pregnant really) but his little gut got mulched by the birth antibiotics and now he reacts. I am building up his gut flora and it has really done wonders. But I am not risking a sensitivity, which is much harder to reverse once they have it than it is to prevent.

Even though he is strictly breastfed, he is sleeping longer now and feeding less. I hear (as a kind of joke) that you get one of two babies - either one that sleeps well early on and then their sleep goes to the pack at six to 9 months; or a baby that sleeps poorly until six months and then starts to sleep well and then stays sleeping well. You'll never know how hard I pray I have the latter! Lemme tell ya. He has a 6-6.30pm feed, asleep by 7, wake to feed at about 2/3am and that's it. He has taken to waking early recently, which I am not enjoying at all. He used to eventually go back to sleep but with the summer sun he is up earlier and staying up, then wanting a nap RIGHT when I need to get up to get DD ready for school, 7am. So he ends up a ratty mess as I keep him up until 9am when we get back from school. So I'm about to black out the room even further, as it is already dark but obviously not dark enough. Full moon recently has him all boogedy too. He is on one of his Wonder Weeks, I swear. He's a clingy, whiny sod at the moment. But he is teething too.

We found "some" relief with Hyland's homeopathic teething pills (dissolve on the tongue). And he has a pain stone on his leg that I taped there. I had the stone, which he chose from a pile, put into a frequency machine so it is made for him, inbued with the frequencies of over 300 different types of pain, and 250 different types of stress. When he isn't wearing it, oh boy, not good. But even when he is wearing it, the few days just before the tooth cuts the gum are still rough. I use white willow bark extract, which is where they get aspirin from. It is gentle enough that it is used in some teething remedies, but works like aspirin. Chamomile tea - a very strong strong brew given in a baby syringe is also a treat as it is milder pain relief than willow but it calms them enough to sleep well.

Anyway, good to hear from you all and welcome Kids!! I stopped checking in on this thread so often but I'll start doing it again as it is moving along a bit again now.

[Sequoia]

Hey Shoegal, how did the wedding go? Did you have a chance to show Baxter the ocean? if so,How did he take it? Taking hunter to WA for a few days in a weeks time for a family do, cant wait to take him to the beach.

Wedding was fantastic! Getting home at 1.00am then feeding 6 hours later was not so fantastic, a wee bit tired! A bit too cold to go swimming at the beach but we are going to the heated pool on Saturday with DH to see if Baxter likes the water. He better since we start infant swim lessons next week!

We are in the midst of Operation Unwrapping. He slept with one arm out last night, and again this morning, but went back to being fully wrapped this afternoon, *sigh*.

Baxter isn't really interested in food yet, so I'm not pushing him into it yet.

Gotta go, boy awake.

SG
xo

[MagicSeahorse]

Well, turned out that the stewed apple was not a good idea after all. We were up half the night with tummy aches, and have been really unfappy today. Had some REALLY explosive nappies, and LOTS of farts. One nappy exploded while we were out shopping. Couldn't get him cleaned up properly till we got home. omg what a mess!!! He has a way of shooting it up his back between his shoulders.... little bugger.

Shoegal: Hunter was wrapped till he was 3 months. Being a premmie..(I'm getting sick of saying that)... it was manditory, as he "hadn't been born yet", and so had to be kept womb like. But he made the decision on his own that he was not going to be wrapped, and don't even think about ever doing it again! I guess Baxter will set his own time. Good luck with that.

Fire: Looks like I've got that first type of baby. He was great at night, now he's a rat! And it's unpredictable as to when he'll want a feed, day or night. Usually 2 hourly during the day, some times hourly ,some times five hourly. I just can't plan anything.

[BabyWrangler]

Woohoo!
Tooth number two has surfaced!!!

[Nettie]

Lisylee - your description of encouraging Hunter to eat was adorable! I can just imagine your smiling face doing 'nummy-nummy' noises

Just a quick update: Liam's nearly crawling. He gets on hands & knees and rocks - then tries to launch himself. He's managed a 'step' every now & then, but is still getting frustrated with it!

Tonight we finally had some success with solids! I baked a sweet potato in the oven wrapped in foil (*****ed holes in it and washed it first), then cut it open & scooped out the good inside bit (left the discoloured outside bit) and mushed it up with a spoon. Then I put small amounts onto my finger - which he gleefully put in his mouth. Once he discovered the taste - he was gobbling it up. That was, until he put my finger too far in and it hurt/was uncomfortable - then he got grumpy, but he was very tired too. However, I am very encouraged Will try again tomorrow - but am hoping the sweet potato doesn't clog him up like it did to another bub I know...

I reckon he's just gone through a wonder week as he was very unsettled and threw his nighttime routine out the window. One night we were still getting him to bed around 11pm! He's beginning to re-establish his day-time naps (was 3 a day, now seems to be heading to 2 a day). However for the last 2 nights he's done his normal routine of going to bed around 8.30 pm and only waking up once during the night. He normally 'wakes' for the day around 6.30 am... I'm ok with this as I get up and spend time with him before heading off to work at 8.30 am.

Personals! :

K.A.L - welcome!!

Shoe - good luck with the swim lessons! I'd love to be doing that with Liam, but I daren't try until I check about his cleft. He might not be able to hold his breath like regular babies... Good luck with operation unwrap too.

Fire - to you... I reckon you've had the most challenging run of all of us... Kudos to you mate! I'm that there's no sensitivities for you.

BW - wow with all those foods! Does he have teeth yet?

Ness - Liam discovered some sposies that I had at the change table station for 'just in case' and looked at them as if to say 'WTF are these???" They probably don't even fit him anymore!! ha ha ha...

Hi to anyone I've forgotten...

[Fire]

Woot BW. Every tooth surfaced is one less agonising week of tears and sleep I reckon.

I bought chamomile extract yesterday, a glycetract (non alcohol) and it seems to work well. Much stronger than even the strongest tea I could make. He is upset most of his awake time at the moment, and very hard to settle for sleeping, and I have noticed a difference with this extract. I'll see if it is coincidence after a few days use.

Yay, Nettie! I think your babe is rather forward; he seems to be the template for what is coming next I've noticed . I can't wait until Shmood is mobile. I find it SO much easier. With DD, we just made our house totally zen so I could free range her without worry and she was totally content and I got things done! We're doing the same with Shminks. I leave most cupboards available, and only lock one with stuff he really can't have yet. I am no fan of the "no" mama. I reduce my need to have to say no to my kids and life is sweeter that way. I'll never understand parents who don't adjust their homes and lives to accomodate kids and end up yelling no all day to them. So yeah, looking right forward to mobility, so give my back a rest. Although I have biceps Arny would covet from constant carrying.